Q&A: After LA28’s first Olympics ticket drop, what’s next and where are those $28 tickets?

You ask. We answer. Or at least we’re going to try.

The Times asked readers for their burning questions regarding the Olympics, and it’s the ticketing process that’s bringing the most heat. Locals in Southern California and Oklahoma City endured the presale headaches and sticker shock before the global audience got their shot at securing tickets this week. But with more than two years remaining until the Games open, expect that there will be more questions.

Here is what Times readers wanted to know:

Why are tickets so expensive?

A price tag of $5,000 to watch the opening ceremony or $2,500 for women’s artistic gymnastics finals shocked hopeful fans on the first day of ticket sales. But it’s not 1984 anymore.

Ticket sales and hospitality are expected to cover about $2.5 billion of the total $7.1 budget. LA28 will have 14 million tickets available across the Olympics and Paralympics, so taken in total, the average ticket for the Games would have to be roughly $179 to reach the budget estimate. Paralympic tickets, which will go on sale in 2027, are expected to be less expensive than Olympic tickets. LA28 said the average Olympic ticket — inclusive of the 24% fee — is less than $200. The math is mathing.

LA28 did not release a complete price list before tickets went on sale, likely fueling some of the sticker shock after fans just heard about the promise of $28 tickets. And a 24% fee raised additional eyebrows.

The fees “align with standard industry practices for ticketing live events in the U.S.,” LA28 said in a statement and cover the costs of secure processing and delivering tickets.

Are there still $28 tickets available?

Yes. LA28 chief executive officer Reynold Hoover said at a recent press event that there are $28 tickets that have not yet been released.

But expect the tickets to go quickly whenever they are available.

There are roughly 1 million $28 tickets total. Divide those tickets to ensure they can be distributed over a number of drops and then divide each drop’s $28 tickets across multiple sports. It’s quickly resembling a small number of needles in a big haystack.

The 1 million $28 tickets are spread across every sport, but not every session. So don’t expect $28 tickets for finals or knock out rounds to the most in-demand sports including women’s artistic gymnastics, basketball, swimming or track and field to be sold at all. Cross your fingers, look for qualifying rounds, especially sports that have a lot of early pool matches such as 3×3 basketball or field hockey, and be open to exploring a new sport you’ve never heard of. Handball is actually a lot of fun to watch.

How many tickets are available in each drop?

This is a question everyone wants to know. And trust me, we’ve asked. LA28 declined in multiple settings to release specific numbers. The lack of information likely contributed to much of the confusion about what to expect when fans logged into the portal for the first time, and it makes it difficult to project what the ticket distribution will look like in future drops.

I had a time slot but didn’t buy my full allotment of tickets. What now?

If you didn’t buy the maximum 12 tickets allowed, you’ll automatically be entered for the next ticket draw later this year. LA28 has not released any additional details about when exactly that next opportunity will be, but it will have the same steps as the first one: a period of open, free registration, a random lottery and assigned time slots during which fans can log in and purchase tickets.

Fans will be automatically rolled over into future lotteries until they’ve reached the maximum 12 general tickets. So you don’t have to do anything extra if you’ve already registered for the first drop. But if you’ve bought your 12 general tickets and not the additional 12 soccer tickets, you won’t be entered into the next draw.

I didn’t register for the presale/first drop. Can I still get a chance to buy tickets?

Don’t panic. You can register next time. The next drop, which will come later this year, will have the same registration period, lottery, time slot pattern, but there will not a presale period. Each lottery is random, so whether you are a first-drop rollover, a new registrant on the first day or someone who signs up on the last day, you all have the same chance to get a time slot.

There will be multiple time slot-based ticket drops before tickets move to a complete first-come, first-served sale.

How can groups get access to the tickets available through the donation program?

Last November, LA28 launched a donation program to help fund tickets for local organizations. The Rams were the first contributors to the program, pledging $5 million to the campaign. But LA28 has not released additional information yet about how the tickets will be handled or distributed in the future.

Will I be able to transfer tickets to friends/family?

Yes. Digital tickets for recent Olympics have been distributed through an app and when they hit your account, you can send them to friends and family using their email addresses/Olympic account information. Just be prepared to download yet another app on your phone.

Why are some events in Oklahoma?

The softball tournament will be in Oklahoma City’s Devon Park, which hosts the Women’s College World Series every year, and canoe slalom will take place at Riversport OKC, the official U.S. Olympic and Paralympic training center for rowing and canoe/kayak.

These Games were intended to use existing infrastructure instead of building new venues, which greatly cuts down on costs. Hosting the canoe slalom events near L.A. would have required an expensive temporary build. It’s true that Southern California has many great college softball teams with existing facilities, but it would be difficult to prepare to a scale suitable for Olympic athletes, stakeholders, media and fans. I’ve covered many softball games at UCLA. The fan capacity is less than 1,500 and there’s room for about seven people in the press box. Eight if you scrunch. You can’t build temporary stands there; the outfield touches Sunset Boulevard.

In Tokyo, the last time baseball and softball were at the Olympics, the sports shared a venue. But LA28 organizers heard feedback from softball athletes saying that converting a baseball stadium into a softball venue compromised some of the Games experience. Moving the softball and canoe slalom events outside of Southern California is a trade off though. Those athletes will not be able to have some of the same Olympic experiences as others, but organizers were mindful to make the competition schedule to ensure that athletes could still attend either the opening or closing ceremonies despite competing far away.

Every Olympics wrestles with finding the perfect venue, and for the L.A. Games, which have more sports and more athletes than any Olympics in history, that calculus is harder than most. There are no perfect solutions.